Wendie Jo Sperber
Wendie Jo Sperber (born September 15, 1958 - died November 29, 2005) was an actress and founder of weSPARK Cancer Support Center. She played Sandy Jorgenson, one of Al's former girlfriends, in the Season 6 MWC episode, "I Who Have Nothing". Acting Career She began acting in the late 1970s, appearing in films like I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Corvette Summer and 1941. She had appeared in many TV shows and films during the 1980's, most notably in the show Bosom Buddies, which starred Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari and in Back To The Future ''and '' Back To The Future III, playing Linda, the sister of Marty McFly. She also appeared in other popular shows and movies during this time, including Bachelor Party, Designing Women, Private Benjamin, Moving Violations and Women In Prison. In the 1990s, she continued acting, making guest appearances on shows such as Married...With Children, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Who's The Boss, Unhappily Ever After and Will and Grace. She also landed longer roles in Babes and Hearts Afire and in movies such as The Return of Hunter and Love Affair. Although she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2004, she continued to act appearing in shows and movies such as JAG, Touched By An Angel, Soroity Boys and 8 Simple Rules before her death in 2005. Her final work was for the Fox animated show, American Dad, in an episode called "Roger n' Me", which aired in 2006, a year after her passing. She portrayed herself, hosting a game show called "Best Buddiez!" with her Bosom Buddies co-star Peter Scolari. Seth MacFarlane, creator of American Dad and a huge fan of Back To The Future, released the episode posthumously and renamed the host to Wendie Jo as a tribute to her after her passing. Appearance on Married...With Children She played Sandy Jorgenson in the season 6 episode, I Who Have Nothing, a promiscuous cheerleader that Al used to date in high school, but was dumped by him at homecoming. Before he dumped her, he gave her the football that he scored four touchdowns in one game with, as a symbol of how much she meant to him. Now, 20 years later, he is back to retrieve it from her, so he can have something to pass on when he dies. Thinking he comes back for amorous reasons, she tries to flirt with him and even forces him to dance with her, as punishment for dumping her at the homecoming dance, although he is mortified now that she has put on so much weight since he last saw her. Death In 1997, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it had gone into remission after treatment. But by 2002 it reappeared and by 2004, it went into stage 4 and spread throughout her body, metastasizing to her lungs and bones, requiring intense treatment. During her last few months, she still made appearances on behalf of weSPARK, continued acting and even spent her final Thanksgiving with her ex-husband, kids, her parents and siblings, all while going through intense chemo and radiation therapy. She passed away at her home on November 29, 2005 at the age of 47. She is buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA. weSPARK Cancer Support Center In 2001, she founded weSPARK Cancer Support Center, an independent organization to provide people and their families peer support though free support, information and social events / activities, from tai chi and jewelry-making classes to holistic treatments and even a healing garden. She would also help organize an extravagant benefit show each yearh with support from many of her co-stars, such as Tom Hanks, Eric McCormick, John Ritter and Bryon Cranston. In addition, she was also on the board of directors and wrote for their quarterly newsletter. Her efforts also helped the US Postal Service create and promote a breast cancer awareness postage stamp. Since her death, the organization has put on the annual Wendie Jo Sperber Celebrity Golf Classic, along with other fundraising events. In 2010, five years after her death, her friend and fellow actress/co-star, Nancy Allen (best known as Officer Anne Lewis in the Robocop movies) was named Executive Director of the organization. External Links *IMDb Profile *Interview with Entertainment Weekly (circa 1990) *weSPARK Official Website *Wendie Jo Sperber at Find A Grave Category:Actors Category:Guest stars